It is one of the very first questions you are asked at family gatherings and upon meeting new people at college: “What’s your major?” You may feel inclined to lie about your true major with the intent that you don’t want to hear a lecture from a relative or a polite head-nod from someone you have recently met. The problem with this is that you may actually be very proud of your major and are more or less not receiving support from those who care about you, or that they think that they are helping by giving you that lecture.
I feel this sentiment often as I am a psychology major, and many of times I have received advice or polite head-nods when I revealed this information. People often tell me that I’ll need to attend graduate school to make decent money and to get a job in my field. I agree, but this is information I was aware of when I chose my major. I appreciate the intention of others who offer their opinion or advice, but it sometimes comes off that they think they know more about your major than you do. Or maybe they’re just trying to relate to me by telling me the above or about their intro to psychology class they took their freshman year.
So why do we place so much emphasis on what major we choose when we are increasingly not looking for or finding work that aligns with our degree? A 2013 article by The Washington Post details that only 27% of college graduates land a job of or relating to their college major. This article was four years ago, so the statistics may have changed, but the numbers show that under a third of college graduates will pursue the field in which they earned their stripes. With this knowledge we should be more open to every major and what kind of job or life fulfillment it will bring for that person. I have a friend who is an art history major and she loves her craft with all of her being. Will she become a museum curator and gather the best art for the biggest museums in the country? Maybe so. She also may choose to do design or something entirely unrelated to art, and that’s OK.
This also prompts the question, what do we value about education today? If a college degree is just a very expensive check in the box, then why does it matter what field we obtain it in? I think of a degree as a door of opportunity (as cheesy as that may sound), to employment options you may not have had without it. It is important to note that the specific skills you learn as a biology major may not translate well into mechanical engineering, and so there are limitations to what you can do with the major you choose.
Yes, there’s the obvious salary increase of those who have college degrees versus those who do not, and it increases as you continue on in higher education but, it also prepares us with a set of skills that will be carried on throughout our lives. We learn how to pay bills, feed ourselves suitably, take care of our bodies and minds, and finesse our way through assignments. These are skills that you learn no matter your major that will be important as we enter the working world and begin to contribute in it.
Choosing your major is an important decision and you may decide to change it a few times before you settle into one. It is however important to note that you are not tied down into any profession or major for your whole life. Your major in marketing may lead to the most fulfilling and challenging career for an advertising agency, or you may find that after a while you want to pursue something else. So instead of judging or berating someone for their choice in major, why not be open and supportive, because you never know what may come of a marginalized major.
Source:
Plumer, Brad. “Only 27 percent of college grads have a job related to their major.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 20 May 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2017.
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